


Like a Storm

by Imrryr



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: Esper Terra, Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 14:49:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4568574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imrryr/pseuds/Imrryr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are times when Terra just can’t control her powers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like a Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Rated M for not-particularly-graphic smut.
> 
> Rejected title, "Come Under Fire." Ugh. lol.

The floorboards rumbled softly as Celes descended below deck, hair whipping in her face before the shutting of the hatch brought a welcome stillness to the air.  Five miles behind, and five-thousand feet below them, the lights of Nikeah twinkled into existence as the sun disappeared behind a sickly blue sea.

Today Nikeah, tomorrow Tzen, and finally onward to Kefka’s tower.  Eight miles of ruins, twisting absurdly into the sky.  No one knew what awaited them there, but one way or another, their long struggle was coming to an end.

Celes stepped slowly forward, hands clasped behind her back.  Not a single fitting had been out of place as she toured the ship.  Swords were sharpened, armor polished, provisions stacked on deck and ordered neatly by team.   They were as ready as they would ever be.

The halls of the great ship, usually alive with chatter, had been disturbingly quiet these last few days - the eve before the great battle, or near enough.  She was all too familiar with the feeling.

A mere four years ago, on the plains surrounding a once great city, there had been a girl - much too young to be on the battlefield, let alone in command of so many lives.  All alone in her tent, she conjured a magical light, spending hours watching it flicker in her hand, turning it this way and that, focusing herself, reminding herself that she was strong, that she would survive, that she would win.

There would be no big speeches this time, not like before Maranda, or Anacreon, or the two-dozen other now long forgotten battles she'd led and won for an Empire that everyone now cursed.

Maybe it was better this way.   Her companions all had far grander motivations than honor and glory to the Emperor.  They didn't need Celes to tell them who or what to fight for.

And in no sense were they her soldiers.

They were her friends.  Something that young woman in the tent had needed so desperately.

At the very end of the hall stood the door to Daryl's cabin.   She opened it and stepped quietly inside, locking the door behind her.  It was very kind of Setzer to let them stay here, even if it was probably more for his own good than theirs.  Even after so many years, her death still weighed heavily on him at times.  And when he toured the ship alone at night, it was hard to miss the shadow that fell upon his face as his gaze landed on a portrait, or a stairwell, or a sofa, or any of the hundred things that brought back memories of Daryl.

He hid his grief as well as Cyan, but Cyan wasn't being asked to live in Doma Castle.

But she also knew that he wouldn’t do a single thing differently.  Maybe he could’ve reigned in Daryl’s more dangerous tendencies, could’ve kept her from going out that day, kept her from pushing the Falcon beyond its limits, kept her from dying on some far off rock somewhere.

At best it would’ve pushed her away, at worst, it would’ve changed who she was, stamped down the fire that Setzer had fallen in love with in the first place.

As her eyes fell upon a head of green hair silhouetted by the setting sun, Celes realized that she knew the feeling.

Terra loved her, despite all that had happened between them, despite the fact that she deserved so much better, and so much more than Celes could ever hope to give her.

Celes had known Kefka was experimenting on her, and since getting her memory back, Terra knew it too, dreamed about those days, recalled the memories at the most unexpected times.  Yet still, she loved her, and not in a million years would Celes dream of telling her not too.

If Terra loved her, then Celes was going to do everything possible to make herself worthy of that love.

Still, even now it felt like a bold action, placing her hand against the woman’s back, but Terra only smiled and leaned against her, increasing the contact.  Together, they watched as the city lights disappeared into the haze through the light of the large cabin windows.

The air would be calm tonight, a welcome opportunity to get some well-deserved sleep before the final battle.  Sleep, however, wasn't exactly on her mind.

All her life, Celes had made bold decisions.  It came with the territory of being a general.  Some decisions had left her showered in medals and parades, others left her waking up from a restless sleep in a cold sweat with the images of the dead as vivid as her own sweating, shaking hands.  The worst decisions were when both those things happened.

It was difficult to trust one’s judgement when you were one of the key players in the world being what it was today… a vast wasteland overrun by ancient demons of unspeakable power.

Still, Terra was here, quietly observing the ocean below, and she hadn’t pulled away.  She never did.

This particular action wouldn’t get anyone killed.  Unless, Celes mused, cognizant of the way her heart was pounding in her chest, that person was Celes herself.

“Worried?” Terra asked into the silence.

Celes blinked at the unexpected question, her thumb tracing a gentle path along the woman’s spine, just above the hem of her dress.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  “No.”

Terra finally met her eyes.  It struck Celes then that she’d never actually seen the woman’s anger directed towards her.  Always, there was that sense of tenderness, even when she was berating Celes for doing something foolish, like jumping in front of a monster to protect her, when in reality, Terra was the strongest of them all.  Stronger than Sabin, or Cyan, or probably all of them combined.

She didn’t _need_ protecting.

That tenderness was there now.  “Liar,” she said, smiling faintly.

Celes ducked her head, pulling them together until she was pressed against the smaller woman’s back, face buried in Terra’s green hair.  She smelled like the forest after a storm, like nature itself lived inside her.  All the espers had smelled like that in their own way; the sulfurous fire of a volcano, the salty rolling sea, the dry windswept desert.  She wrapped her arms around her.  The espers were gone now.  As far as anyone knew, Terra was the last.  Celes took another deep breath.  She couldn’t protect any of them, but this one… this one she would gladly lay down her life for.

The woman in her arms sighed happily when Celes' hand travelled across her stomach, exploring the muscles there.   Always so thin, but with daily training Terra was getting a little stronger day by day.

She was caught completely off guard when Terra spun around and used that strength to push her forcefully onto the bed, armor and all.  “You’re thinking too much,” she said as she climbed on top of her.

Celes’ retained that blank expression, or what she thought was a blank expression, right up until the point when Terra kissed her.

“We’re as prepared as we’ll ever be,” she whispered into her ear, sending shivers down Celes’ spine.  “We have to end this.”

She nodded.  Kefka needed to be stopped.  Stopped before he torched another city.  Stopped before he ruined another life.  “I don’t want this to end,” Celes finally said.

Terra’s eyes widened until she understood.  “This,” she began, running a hand up Celes’ arm.  “ _This_ won’t end.”

That wasn't so certain.  Kefka was more powerful than any foe they had ever faced.  The three statues were under his control.  He had incinerated entire towns with the power of his thought.  Chances were high this would be a one-way mission for at least some of them.

She frowned at Celes' lack of an answer.  "Do you trust me?"

What a question.  "Of course."

“Whatever happens, _this_ is forever,” she promised with another quick kiss on the lips.

' _Ok, wow_.'  Celes was hardly what one would call a romantic, but, yeah... Her skin burned under the force of a growing blush.  "That was a good line."

"I meant it."

"I know."  Smiling, Celes pulled her in for another kiss.

Terra tasted like she smelled, like life itself, like an oasis in a dark and barren world.

It wasn’t long before hands went to the buckles on Celes’ gloves.  First one, then the other.  As they fell together, their lips never parting for long, Terra pulled at the arms of her chainmail shirt before seeming to remember that the breastplate would have to come off first.  Her breathing turned heavy, beads of sweat forming on her bare skin.  Whatever she had learned about Celes’ complicated armor in the past few months was clearly escaping her memory.

There was more to it than that, though.  It was clear in her eyes: Terra was worried about something of her own.

As she pulled the wrong way on one of the straps, Celes finally had to stop her.  “Terra.  Let go.”

She blinked in question, tendrils of freed hair clinging to her face, blue eyes inches from Celes’ own.

“You’re holding yourself back again.”  They had this exact same conversation every time they –

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

She smiled.  “You can't hurt me.”  A finger curled under Terra's chin.  Celes had no idea what sort of creature Maduin had been exactly, but there was definitely something a little feline in his daughter.  Still, despite her obvious pleasure at having her neck stroked, Terra clearly wanted to object.  "You _can't_ hurt me,” Celes repeated.  “Not in any way that matters."  Truer words had never passed her lips.

Terra's eyes were wide, but her breathing remained heavy.  Clearly, she wanted to continue, even as her mind fought against it.

Celes propped herself up, distracting Terra by digging fingers into her back as she buried her face in her neck.  She knew just where to push –

“Celesssss,” Terra breathed, all too aware of what she was planning, but unable, or maybe unwilling, to stop it.   Generals never invoked the same strategy over and over against the same target, but there was one strategy that Terra had no defense for.

It worked every single time.

She scraped her nails against her back, barely even leaving a mark, but it was enough.   Shuddering, Terra let out a piercing scream that Celes anticipated quickly enough to bury with a kiss even as she grabbed the hilt of the runic blade lying on the table.  There wasn’t an adult onboard who hadn’t already figured out more or less exactly what the two of them did together at night, and sometimes in the morning, but Celes had no desire to risk them pounding on the door and asking if everything was all right.

Especially if it was because the room had caught fire.

When the flash of heat and flame had subsided, Terra was still on top of her, the same weight, the same beautiful face, but now a creature out of legend: naked and all pink skin and hair, fur and dangerous claws, with a power capable of flattening a city.

Her eyes flashed with uncertainty, but she knew where she was.

Celes’ grip loosened as residual wisps of fire magic danced around the shining blade.  Precautions had to be taken.  They’d set a blanket alight the first time.  Thankfully, Celes had ample opportunity to toss the evidence out the window before Setzer, or worse, Edgar, learned of it.

Even so, the air was heavy with magic now, like standing before the gate to the Esper World. 

Complete with a faint breeze that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

Finally, the runic blade was set gently back on the table.  Magic remained in the air, but there was only so much Celes could absorb before the effects became rather like having too much wine.  She wanted to remember this.

It always took a moment for Terra to calm herself after a transformation.  During battle there was no need; she would fly into the fray with all the fury of a dragon – but this was just a little bit different, or so Celes hoped, if only for her own safety.  She hovered there, above Celes, hands planted firmly on either side of her, breathing deeply with eyes tightly shut like there was a storm inside her that she was struggling to contain.

Somehow she always did.

Eventually, her fists uncurled and she stared at Celes with those fiery eyes that were distinctly her own once again.

Celes ran a hand along her cheek and up to the tip of a now pointed ear.  So beautiful.  In any form, Terra was always so breathtaking.  “Better?” she asked with a smile.

The woman nodded, but there was a hint of an eye-roll in there too.  Locke had once told her that spending so much time in Celes’ company was clearly beginning to show.

Perhaps he had a point.

“Good.”

Terra let out a deep, steadying breath, and it was charged with all the elements at once; the crackling of lightning, the heat of fire, the clarity of water, the solidity of earth.  A creature of magic.  No matter how many times Celes was exposed to Terra in this state, it was never any less intense.  It was always completely intoxicating.

And the thing was, Terra _knew_ it.  As innocent as everyone assumed she was, she knew just how much the transformation excited Celes.  In fact, she reveled in it.  Terra’s smile grew bright as her eyes raked over Celes’ body, canine’s glinting dangerously under the light of the lamp.  “Better?” she asked, her voice ethereal, ageless, and just the slightest bit mocking.

Again, definitely a turn on.

Celes grunted as the woman pressed forward, thick pink hair brushing against the skin of her face before a hand nudged her head to the side and warm lips kissed her cheek.  She heard the soft intakes of breath as Terra planted light kisses all over her.  She was being sniffed.  Magic, even stolen, attracted espers like a moth to a flame.

She would've laughed had Terra not wrapped her hands tightly around her upper arms, effectively pinning them in place, long golden nails digging into the mattress.

They went through rather a lot of those too.

Finally, she found her lips, and Celes was lost, struggling against impossible strength, heart thundering in her chest.

Teeth quickly moved to her neck again, sharp canines scraping the skin.  Celes arched her back, barely registering how Terra guided her hands over her head, pinning them both under one of her own so easily that anyone would’ve assumed Celes wasn’t fighting back.  Terra laughed softly in her ear, almost a snarl of triumph, and Celes squirmed.  At this rate she wouldn’t even have to get undressed -

There came a horrible shriek, like the sound of the ship being wrenched apart, and her eyes snapped open.  “ _Terra_!”

The woman had her free hand wrapped around Celes’ breastplate, midway through ripping the thick metal right in half, twisting one end of it like it was made of foil.  She stared up at Celes with wild eyes, hair blowing in that magical wind.  Looking down at her handiwork, the smile she gave was only the slightest bit guilty.  “Sorry.”

“It’s…"  _‘Holy shit…’_   Celes let out a steadying breath, her mind swimming with the magic in the air, “It’s ok.”  The display of strength did do wonderful things for her libido, not like she needed help in that department.  “You can’t just keep destroying my armor like this though.  It’s _expensive_.”

At that, Terra smiled on, snapping one of the shoulder belts between her nails with ease.  “You’re not fighting Kefka in this anyway.”

Taking the opportunity to sit up while Terra leaned over and tossed the ruined armor away, Celes began quickly unhooking her boot straps.  She _liked_ these boots and wanted to keep them.  “I’m not, huh?”

Terra shook her head as she began fighting with Celes' chainmail shirt.  “That armor we found in the tower yesterday…”  She glanced over her shoulder, indicating the dazzling breastplate hanging from the rack in the corner; as ancient as it was strong, forged millennia ago for a war not unlike the one they were fighting now.  An iridescent white cape lay draped over it, sparkling in the dim light of the cabin lamp.  After unlocking the chest, Edgar had pulled it out with a flourish and held the armor in front Celes with admiration.  He called it the ‘Minerva Bustier.’ 

Celes had called him an idiot.

With a nod of her head, Terra said, “You’re wearing that.”

“Terra.”  They had discussed this already.  “That’s for you.”

With a final tug, the chainmail shirt was yanked over her head and landed somewhere with a heavy thunk, a few dislodged rings skittering across the floor.  Fingers moving urgently, Celes finally got her boots off before Terra could ‘help’ with that too.

Next came the legplates; a far simpler task, and the second they were off, Celes was pushed back against the bed.  Yellow eyes raked her chest, covered as it was now in only a thin black undershirt, as her leggings were tugged down to her knees.  Evidently, Terra approved.  Those fiery eyes locked with hers, pinning her as effectively as any physical bond.

Celes swallowed.  The idea of Terra in her esper form, focused utterly on her, fighting Celes with her full strength... well, it'd be easier to take on the eight dragons at once, to be honest.

And the prospect _definitely_ shouldn’t have excited her as much as it did.

A single clawed finger easily ripped her shirt in half.  “ _Terra_!”

“Sorry,” she whispered again, not even granting Celes the favor of eye-contact this time.  It was impossible to miss just how pleased she looked.

And so very confident.

A glimpse of what perhaps Terra might have been like had she been allowed a normal upbringing, or as normal as a half-human, half-esper could feasibly have.  Their intimate moments together brought this side out of her, just as it brought out her esper half.

Hands grasped her upper arms again, and something about the way Terra clutched at her screamed ' _mine_.'  She couldn’t possibly imagine, but whatever was going through Terra’s mind, whether it was intentional or not, was extremely effective at getting Celes worked up.

Exploring her with a rough tongue brought shivers down her spine and by the time it reached between her thighs, Celes was holding back a magical eruption of her own.

A voice in her head told her it was wrong.  Fantastically powerful magical being or not, someone like Terra should definitely not be between her legs, looking up at her with such devotion in her bright, wide eyes, tongue pressed against her sex.

Celes’ head fell back against the pillow and her muscles strained as Terra kept her pinned to the bed.  Hands grasped her upper thighs, but Celes found she could barely move.  Magic was pinning her shoulders down.  Everything was just so overwhelming, and she was definitely moaning now.  Terra was far, far too good at this.

Magic gathered in her own palms, the chill traveling up her arms despite the heat of the body on top of her.   Terra continued, unconcerned, even as cold hands ran through thick hair, clutching at her head and pulling her closer.  It probably felt like a scarcely noticeable draft compared to the magic Terra was capable of.

Celes could feel her control unraveling though she tried to fight it.  With more presence of mind, she would have been mortified by just how quick Terra was capable of undoing her.

But for the moment, all she could do was moan, the cries growing louder and louder though she knew she should stop them.

For a fraction of a second, Terra lifted her head.  "Shh," she breathed, hot breath and magic enveloping her like a shroud, and Celes lost the power of speech.

Quite literally.

She let loose a scream, Terra's name on her lips, but there was no sound to be heard, even in her own ears.

As she back came down, the spell shattered with the suddenness of broken glass and Celes let out a huff of air.  No one liked being silenced, least of all her. 

Terra slid up her body with all the grace of a cat, leaving Celes' eyes rolling up in her head with how sinfully good it all felt.

“Thanks,” she grumbled, struggling to catch her breath as Terra settled on top of her.

She kissed her shoulder.  “I just didn’t want you to freeze us both in a block of ice.”

“Ha.”  Her lip quivered when Terra brushed a furry foot against her leg.  “ _Stop that_.”  Only one person in all the world knew that the great Celes Chere was ticklish.

Terra only smirked, repeating the motion and daring Celes to do something about it.  Even in her boneless state, she couldn't resist a challenge like that.  Using all her strength, Celes flipped them both over and settled on her waist.  "My turn," she whispered into her ear, Terra's clawed hands held under her own.

Some part of Terra bristled against being held down, at being contained in any way - and understandably so, Celes thought - but another part of her was excited by it.  She pushed back against Celes, hips lifting her easily off the bed, but never hard enough to wrestle away control.  She was still holding herself back...

This was a little different though.  Terra _wanted_ Celes to be in control, or at least, in something resembling a level playing field.  It made her wonder what love-making must be like for espers.

Likely, it involved a lot of property damage.

“Stay,” she ordered, loosening her grip on those powerful hands, but not letting go until Terra finally nodded in acknowledgement.  Her attention was on something else entirely.

Celes looked down at her bare chest, muscles flexing, using all her strength as she strained to keep Terra in placel.  She raised an eyebrow.  "Like what you see?"

Again, Terra nodded rapidly.

Pressing downward, her teeth trailed over the skin of Terra's neck and the woman bucked her hips, nearly throwing her off.  Celes laughed as she shook the hair out of her eyes.  "You're not listening to me again."

Yellow eyes met hers with defiance.  "You _like_ it when I don't listen to you."

' _Mmm, another good line_ ,' she thought.  "If you fling me through the window, you'd better come and catch me."

Terra stilled, at least to a degree.

" _Stay_ ," Celes repeated.

Her head fell back against the pillow, eyes tightly shut, struggling to control herself.  If anything, it wasn't working, and as fingers inched down Terra’s stomach, preternaturally strong hands wrapped around Celes' shoulder blades, long fur tickling her arms, long nails dangerously sharp.

Celes shook her head even as she smiled into deceptively soft skin.  She had no trouble ordering men around on the battlefield… but she just never had the heart to do it with Terra, at least not for long.  "Be careful with those," she chided, and Terra moaned in what might have been acknowledgment, pressing her palms down onto Celes' back.

The second her fingers pressed inside her, those nails were suddenly digging into her again.  Celes chuckled even as she involuntarily gasped in pain.  She could work through it.  After all, she had survived the end of the world, and she _had_ sort of asked for this.

A building heat in the room indicated that Terra was getting closer and closer, magic of all sorts - fire, wind, lightning - washing over them both.  Celes' eyes darted again to the runic blade.  Hopefully, she wouldn’t need to use it.  There were enough dangerously sharp things in their bed already.

With her lips, Celes silenced Terra's moans as best she could, but when Terra's climax hit, those nails dug deeply enough into her back to draw blood, and Celes screamed, jolted up - which only made the pain far, far worse - then rolled onto her back.  The instant her wounds pressed against the sheets she regretted it.  Swearing, she tried to flip over onto her chest before realizing she had run out of mattress. 

"Celes!"

Dazed, she looked up from the floor to find Terra hovering over her, in her human form once again, which meant that all the colors swirling in the air around her were probably the remnants of a magical hangover. 

Or she had hit her head harder than she’d thought.

Rolling Celes onto her stomach turned out to be impossible when she was shaking so much.  Terra arched an eyebrow as she looked over her bleeding shoulder.  "You're laughing!  Why are you laughing?"

To be honest, Celes had no idea.  Maybe it was because this was the most painful injury she had suffered since the Floating Continent, and it had happened here, on a mattress.  Or yeah, maybe it was her head.

With a few whispered words, the wounds closed and the growing knot on the side of her head vanished.  Celes let out a sigh as her vision cleared and she pushed herself up.  “Thank you,” she mumbled.

Terra wrapped her in a tight hug.  “I’m _sorry_.”  This time her tone left no question as to whether or not she meant it.

Smiling softly, Celes patted her on the back.  “I know.”

“This is why... This is why I don’t –“

“Don’t say it,” she chided, hugging her back.  “You didn't hurt me."

"But -"

In reality, there were plenty of things Terra could do that would hurt her - when she had stayed with the children in Mobliz instead of coming with them, for instance - _that_ had hurt.  Sure, Celes had come to understand, _in time_ , but it had still hurt.  Months of scouring the endless wastes had given her unrealistic expectations of what would happen when they were finally reunited.

But Terra couldn't just abandon those people.  It was unthinkable.

It took time, too much time really, for disappointment to turn into pride.  Terra was no longer following orders.  She was her own person, forging her own path, and she had found what she had been so long searching for.

And she had done it without anyone’s guidance.

“One day, I hope all this fighting can be a distant memory," Celes said, speaking softly into Terra's ear, feeling the tension in the woman's body slowly evaporate.  "And the only time I'll feel pain is when we're together.  Just like this."

Terra shook her head, but continued to hug her back.  "It just seems... wrong somehow."

Celes smiled.  "I've never felt safer than I do right now."

Pulling back, she found Terra smiling back at her, like she was about to cry.  " _Celes_..."

She laughed again.  "Promise me you won’t make me say anything that sappy again."

Terra’s grin grew even as she scratched the back of Celes' healed shoulder with her, thankfully, blunt human finger-nails.  "I'll think about it..."

It wasn't long before their lips met again, Celes pulling Terra onto her lap to spare her the rough, cold floorboards shaking beneath them. 

Long fingers drew circles around Terra's lower back for a time as she buried her head in Celes' neck with a happy sigh.   In time, Celes hoped that all the doubts Terra had about herself would melt away like the memories of Kefka, and the Empire, and all the horrible things they had wrought.

Until then, maybe Celes' mere presence would be enough.  She wasn't sure what else she could offer. 

Sometimes it felt like she was caught up in whirlwind.  Terra was the fulcrum on which all their hopes were laid, and when she finally turned her full fury on Kefka there would be no stopping her.  But after that?  There were things that fighting couldn’t solve: wounds to be healed, homes to rebuild, things Celes had no experience of.  She would just have to stay right here, by Terra’s side, and hope for the best.

It was a challenge that rivaled leading an army into battle.

A finger flicked the side of her head.  “Stop that,” Terra mumbled into her shoulder.

“Reading my mind again, huh?” Celes asked.

Terra nodded as she wrapped her arms more tightly around her back.  “We’ll be fine.”

A former general, yet she somehow she lacked Terra’s confidence.  “Do you ever wonder what we’ll do… after?”

“I imagine it will involve more of this,” Terra replied, hands splayed across Celes’ back, the smile evident in her voice.

She hummed under the attention, and the mental images.  “You think so, huh?”

Terra murmured an affirmation.

“All magic is wrapped up in…” she didn’t want to even say his name out loud, lest it destroy the mood more thoroughly than her constant worrying would, “What happens when we kill him?”

Those hands never stilled, still comforting.  “I don’t know,” Terra said simply.

“Doesn’t that bother you?”  Such a horrible thing that magic might have to die to kill the man who abused it.

Terra shook her head.  “I’m happy right now.  It’s all I can be sure of, and it’s all that matters.” 

Celes sighed.  “You flatter me.”

They sat there, wrapped together for a while before Terra spoke again.  “I think I would miss my esper half, if it should go.  So will you, I bet.”

It was Celes’ turn to shake her head.  “No, I mean, yeah.  It’s a part of who you are, but –“

Terra giggled.  “You’ve always been attracted to me, even when I’m like this.”

Pulling back, Celes met Terra’s blue eyes with a suspicious glance.

“I’m sensitive to heat,” she continued, looking at her through unbound hair.  “When we were reunited in Albrook, I could sense how everyone’s blood was pumping.  They were scared of you, of what would happen, but you were so calm… until you saw me.  I couldn’t understand it.  At first I thought it was fear you were feeling, but when you and I became… close… I realized it was something different.”

Different indeed.

She probably should’ve been upset by that, but Celes couldn’t bring herself to react so strongly.  Terra could simply read her like a book.  It would always be that way.  Any resentment over that particular fact had vanished along with the old world.  “I…. _see_.”  Fingers trailed up and down Terra’s lower back.  “And what does your heat sensitivity tell you now?”

Terra hummed, drawing close once again.  “That I have nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing, huh?” Celes asked with a broadening smile.

A hand pressed down Terra’s stomach, past her belly button, and Terra gasped as she pulled away, her eyes sparkling.  " _Again_?"

Celes grinned.

…

She blinked awake to find the cabin lit by the morning sun, strong, very human arms wrapped tightly around her.  A draft pricked at her skin.  Noting the proximity of the ceiling, Celes let out a deep breath.

They were levitating.

A head of wild green hair lay across her chest, and she smiled to herself when she leaned her head back and saw the great mountains of the Southern Continent looming through the window.  At least they were above the bed this time.  The last time this happened, the spell had broken while they were over the floor.

Not quite as painful as taking ten simultaneous razor blades to the back, but close.

Heartbeat steadying, Celes couldn't stop herself from stroking Terra's soft green hair.  One day, she hoped to see the world in this color once again; forests the color of these strands, seas the color of her eyes.  And when that happened, she promised herself to savor every moment of it this time.

Until then, this was as close as she could get.  The woman on top of her sighed happily.

“Terra,” she chided.  “We’re floating again.”

She hummed and wrapped her arms more securely around Celes, an instinctively protective gesture that brought to mind Setzer's sizeable collection of romance novels.  “Can’t help it,” she murmured before yawning prodigiously.

Celes reached down to the bed and pulled up one of the covers, shaking loose a shredded black piece of cloth that she dimly recognized as once being a shirt.  With some effort, she was able to drape the blanket over the two of them, the edges falling back onto the bed.  She patted Terra gently on the back.  “I know.”


End file.
